Author: Valerie

I’ve always loved Greek food! There is an amazing Greek place in the neighborhood we used to live in and we used to walk over there at least once a week for a gyro. Really though, the tzatziki sauce has always been the star for […]

This recipe is also on YouTube, click here to watch Ah Valentine’s Day, most people have an extreme reaction to this “holiday,” either loathe it, or absolutely love it! I’m going to say, I’m pretty indifferent. I’m not the biggest flowers or jewelry kind of […]

This is a bonus guest recipe by Caleb of @vegancatman on Instagram! He’s in the process of building his website so make sure you give him a follow on instagram to see what he’s up to!

This recipe was put together in the spirit of creating the ultimate game day snack and proving that anything you can think of, you can make vegan. These are a rip on an In-n-Out Double-Double animal style burger but NO ANIMALS harmed! Eating it in a potato skin is kind of like eating a burger and fries at the same time! Follow my Instagram for future updates on my blog I’m creating where I will share this and other recipes. Enjoy! – Caleb – @vegancatman

Ingredients:

4 medium size Russet potatoes

3-4 Tbsp melted vegan butter (I like Miyoko’s!)

2 Beyond Meat Beyond Burger (you could use other burgers, but I used this as you will divide it and mold it)

4 slices vegan cheddar cheese (I use Follow Your Heart)

2-3 Leaf lettuce pieces

24 sliced dill pickles (I use Bubbies and cut them from whole pickles)

1 medium tomato (4 slices halved)

1 medium yellow onion

Mustard

Salt n Pepper

Special Sauce:

3 Tbsp Ketchup

2 Tbsp Mustard

½ Cup vegan mayo (I use Just Mayo)

1 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp vinegar

Directions:

Poke holes with a fork in all the potatoes and place on oven rack at 400 degrees for 50-60 minutes.

While these are cooking you can prep everything else. Divide each patty into quarters so you have 8 pieces of burger. Mold these into 8 small patties and set aside. Combine your special sauce ingredients and refrigerate so the sauce has time to set up. Cut your four slices of cheese into fourths leaving you with 16 pieces of cheese. Slice your dill pickles, tomato and tear your pieces of lettuce.

Slice your potatoes lengthwise so you have 8 halves. Scoop out the center of the potato leaving a ring of potato and the skin. I like just enough potato but not too much that it overpowers the skin, plus these are STUFFED so you will need the room! Flip the potato skins over and baste the skins with butter. Place back in the oven on broil. Start your burger patties in a pan while watching your tater skins. When the skins brown a bit and start to get a bit crispy pull them from the oven, flip and butter the potato side and season with salt n pepper. Broil again. With your burger patties going smear each side with some mustard before flipping. Flip and cook until almost done and cover each mini patty with two squares of cheese. PRO TIP: Toss some water in the pan and cover with lid for a minute to get the cheese nice and melty. Remove your potato skins now, the potato side should start to get golden brown. Set aside to cool for 5 min.

Double up your burger patties so you have 4 double-double patties. Half these leaving you with 8 half burgers. Assemble your skins with grilled onions, then patties, then lettuce, ½ tomato slice, 3 pickle slices and plenty of special sauce. Serve immediately while the warm ingredients are still warm. If you are transporting these or making these ahead of time just assemble with the burger patties and onions and leave the cold ingredients out. This way you can quickly reheat a tray of the skins then assemble with the cold ingredients.

This recipe is part of a big Vegan Super Bowl Collab with some other extremely talented vegan bloggers, and more on Instagram, so make sure to check them out after! 7 Layer Taco Dip Cups by The Plant Strong Vegan Healthy Buffalo “Chicken” Dip by […]

Considering the vast majority of days in Miami have temps above 80 degrees, some cold & refreshing gelato is welcomed year-round here. Unfortunately, a lot of gelato places have limited dairy-free selections, and the ones they do have are usually fruit-based. Not that I’m complaining, […]

This recipe randomly came to me because I had some leftover ranch seasoning from an older recipe (Chik’n Potato Ranch Casserole) and I had bought some pre-cut butternut squash from Costco. I also wanted to continue research for my ongoing theory that ranch is good with everything, so I was like, it sounds kinda weird, but let’s see how butternut squash and ranch do together!

It turned out INCREDIBLE, and the entire tray of squash disappeared way too quickly (into my stomach) Next time I made it, I threw together a quinoa black bean pilaf, some baby kale, pickled red onions, and drizzled some fresh roasted garlic dressing and my new obsession had come together.

This is my current favorite dinner, and leftovers reheat beautifully for lunch the next day.

Ranch Roasted Butternut Bowl with Roasted Garlic Dressing

Ingredients:

1 medium-sized butternut squash, cut into 1-inch cubes

2 tbs nutritional yeast

1 tbs dried parsley

1 tsp dried dill

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp garlic powder

½ tsp salt

3/4 cup quinoa, rinsed

1 14 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 1/2 cups vegetable broth

½ onion, chopped

3 tbs roasted pumpkin seeds, or butternut squash seeds

1 tbs vegan butter

Fresh greens

Store-bought or homemade pickled red onion

Sriracha (optional)

Dressing:

1 head of garlic

½ tbs yellow mustard

2 tbs vegan mayo

1/2 tbs white wine vinegar

1/8 tsp cayenne

Pinch salt

1 ½ tbs water

Tip #1: If you like it saucy, double the dressing, even if you don’t use it all on this recipe you can pretty much use it on anything!

Tip #2: If you’re short on time, or just feeling lazy, Follow Your Heart has an amazing Roasted Garlic Dressing you can use instead!

Directions:

Set oven to 350 degrees

Pull off any loose paper surrounding the head of garlic leaving the tight outer layers of the paper on, do NOT pull apart any of the cloves. Cut the top off, about ½-inch in, to expose the tops of the garlic. Drizzle some oil on top, wrap in aluminum foil, and roast in the oven for 45-55 minutes, depending on the size of the head of garlic. The cloves inside should be completely soft.

When the garlic is done roasting, remove from the oven, and unwrap the foil to let it cool.

Turn the oven up to 400 degrees

Drizzle or spray the butternut squash with oil, sprinkle with salt, arrange the squash on a baking sheet, and roast in the oven for 10 minutes.

While its roasting, mix together the nutritional yeast, parsley, dill, onion powder, garlic powder, and salt in a small bowl. Pour the seasoning onto the squash, toss to coat, roast for another 10-15 minutes until a knife easily pierces the squash.

While the squash is roasting, heat a medium-sized pot over medium heat, melt 1 tbs vegan butter and then sauté the onion with a pinch of salt for 3-4 minutes until it starts to soften.

Add the vegetable broth, and quinoa, and cook according to the quinoa package instructions. Once quinoa is done, add the black beans and toss.

Next let’s make the dressing, squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of the paper into a small food processor or blender. Add the rest of the dressing ingredients and process until smooth. Adding water to thin if needed.

Serve butternut squash with the quinoa pilaf and a handful of fresh greens, and drizzle with the dressing. Garnish with pumpkin seeds and pickled red onions. If you like spice, I also love a little sriracha with this too!

This recipe is also on YouTube, click here to watch We just got back from our third trip in the last 9 weeks and we are in need of a serious food detox. Traveling and eating all of the delicious food is so fun […]

In case you didn’t know, my last name is Libutti. It is my married name, but that doesn’t change the fact that whenever Italian food is concerned, I’d better BRING IT. My husband grew up with “gravy” (what they call marinara sauce) on everything, and […]

There’s something about the cold weather that makes me crave chili, am I alone on this? I feel like I’m not! After enjoying some chili cheeze fries at Let it Be creperie and burger bar in Berlin last month, I wanted to create something similar that you can make at home.

I chose baked potatoes instead of fries for this but I will totally not judge you if you buy some frozen French fries and pour all this goodness on top. I loved the idea of baked potatoes because it becomes more of a meal and obviously, health, ya know.

This is such a great hearty meal that will warm you up on these cold winter days and give you the energy to do wintery things like plow your driveway or de-ice your car or whatever, I live in Miami so I don’t know these things. I hope you enjoy as much as we did! Don’t forget to tag me on instagram when you make any of my recipes so I can share!

Chili Cheeze Baked Potatoes with crispy skin

Makes 6 baked potatoes or 4 super loaded ones!

Note: the “cheese” sauce is adapted from some of Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s recipes from Isa Does It

Ingredients:

4-6 equal-sized russet potatoes, scrubbed and pat dry

2 tbs vegan butter, softened

salt and pepper

Cheeze sauce:

1 cup cashew pieces, soaked for at least 2 hours, if you don’t have a high-powered blender like a Vitamix, soak them overnight

2 tbs mellow white miso

4 tbs nutritional yeast

½ tsp salt

½ tsp turmeric

2 tbs refined coconut oil (if you use unrefined it will have a coconutty taste, so make sure you’re using refined)

Heat a 6 qt soup pot over medium heat, drizzle in some oil of your choice (I used canola) add the onion, green bell pepper, garlic, and salt and saute for 10-12 minutes until the veggies are softened. Add the chili powder, oregano, smoked paprika, tomatoes, and kidney beans stir and bring to a boil. Lower heat to a simmer, cover, and cook for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes or so. After its been cooking for an hour, uncover and cook for another 20-25 minutes, you want it to be pretty thick unless you want to pour soup over your baked potato. I would highly recommend either scooping out a cup or so, blending it in a blender, and adding it back in OR if you have an immersion blender, partially blend it in the pot.

While the chili is cooking, get the potatoes in the oven. Poke each one a few times with a fork, rub the potatoes with the vegan butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place the potatoes directly on the rack, start checking them with a knife (CAREFULLY!) about 40 minutes in, the knife should enter easily. I used medium-sized potatoes and they took about 55 minutes.

Now for the cheese! It’s incredible easy, add all ingredients to a high-powered blender and blend on high for 2 minutes or so until smooth, give your blender intermittent breaks so it doesn’t overheat.

Cut the potatoes in half lengthwise, open them up, scoop large amount of chili on top and finish with cheese sauce and whatever extra toppings you desire!

I recently received a care package from Follow Your Heart (thanks guys!!) with their Pesto Vegenaise in it, and after trying it on sandwiches and dunking French fries in it I was like, this vegan mayo is worthy of something BIGGER! We are […]